UFC 124 main-card recap: Champ St-Pierre dominates rival Koscheck

http://mmajunkie.comMONTREAL – After waiting more than three years for the rematch, Josh Koscheck could implement little new and suffered a lopsided unanimous-decision loss to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre in the headliner of Saturday’s UFC 124 event.

St-Pierre set the tone early with crisp striking, and he continually wore down the challenger through the five-round title fight.

The bout headlined a record-breaking event at Montreal’s Bell Centre, which drew nearly 24,000 fans and is expected to break the UFC’s and North America’s MMA attendance and live-gate records.

With the French-Canadian St-Pierre fighting Koscheck, a rival coach on the recently concluded 12th season of “The Ultimate Fighter 12,” UFC 124 proved December’s can’t-miss affair. But St-Pierre never found himself in real trouble and cruised to another dominant title defense.

St-Pierre scored the fight’s first takedown just 20 seconds into the opening round, though Koscheck quickly got back to his feet. Subsequent attempts were easily snuffed out by the challenger, but a steady stream of jabs worked their way through Koscheck’s defenses and connected sharply. A late-round takedown was the only way Koscheck could avoid the effective punches, which left his right eye swollen shut between rounds.

Koscheck entered the second round more tentatively and bounced in and out of the pocket. But St-Pierre’s jabs and low kicks continued to score, and Koscheck’s hesitation allowed him to mix in superman punches and lunging shots to the head and body. A flurry of low-kick-jab-jab combos closed out a second dominant round for the champ.

With what proved to be an ineffective game plan, Koscheck opted for takedown attempts in the third. He continually clinched with the champ, but St-Pierre usually took dominant clinch positions, avoided the mat, and created room to continue landing with precision striking and his remarkably effective left jab.

As the fight entered championship territory, Greg Jackson and his fellow cornermen told St-Pierre to go for the knockout. Meanwhile, Koscheck faced a possible TKO stoppage due to the cageside doctor’s inspection of his left eye, but referee Herb Dean swooped in and got the fighter to admit he could continue. Despite a deer-in-headlights look, Koscheck came out for the fourth round. But St-Pierre picked him apart with punches and kicks – specifically to Koscheck’s lead leg – while avoiding his wild desperation punches.

Before the fifth and final round, Koscheck’s American Kickboxing Academy corner implored the fighter to swing for the fences. But the round played out much like the first four, and St-Pierre continually popped him with the destructive jabs and leg kicks. A pair of takedowns late in the round sealed the deal for perhaps the sport’s most dominant competitors.

“My goal was to take him out, but he’s very tough,” said St-Pierre, who embraced Koscheck after the fight and actually thanked him for hyping the fight. “I’m very sorry everyone.”

Despite a hostile crowd, Koscheck thanked them anyway and said he hopes to one day win them over.

“I hope one day I get to come back here and put on a better show,” he said. “But GSP is the man tonight.”

St-Pierre (21-2 MMA, 15-2 UFC) now has won eight consecutive fights with five straight title defenses. Koscheck (15-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC), who went 6-2 after a decision loss to St-Pierre at UFC 74 to get the rematch, snaps a three-fight win streak.

McCorkle earned the fight’s first takedown in dramatic fashion after scooping
and slamming his opponent to the mat. He then locked in a trademark kimura
that Struve only narrowly escaped. But after sweeping and taking top position with full mount, Struve quickly rained down blows that forced referee Yves Lavigne’s intervention at the 3:55 mark.

While initial gasps suggested the stoppage may have been premature, a bloodied McCorkle lay on his back with his arms outstretched while clearly in a daze.

Struve, who attempted to ignore much of McCorkle’s online taunting in the buildup to the fight, continually promised to settle the score in the cage.

“He can trash-talk all he wants,” he said after the fight. “Our jobs are in here.”

Immediately at the bout’s conclusion, Struve shook hands and embraced his opponent, signifying an end to a largely manufactured beef that surprisingly (and some may say undeservedly) got the fighters co-headliner status.

Struve (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC), a 22-year-old who’s won five of his past six UFC fights, should get a top contender in his next bout. McCorkle (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), a former super heavyweight who got a UFC contract primarily because the UFC came to his hometown of Indianapolis in September, suffers his first defeat.

Miller derails the Oliveira hype train

UFC officials are going to have a hard time withholding a title shot from Jim Miller, who picked up his sixth straight UFC victory and derailed one of the organization’s most-hyped prospects with a slick first-round kneebar.

Facing the quick and well-rounded Charles Oliveira, who splashed onto the UFC scene earlier this year with impressive submission wins over Darren Elkins and Efrain Escudero, Miller scored a takedown but immediately was on the defensive. Oliveira nearly secured an armbar, and then he came dangerously close to cinching a triangle choke. He then attempted a kneebar, which Miller also escaped.

In the ensuing scramble, Miller saw a free leg and secured a kneebar of his own. Oliveira initially delivered punches to the body but soon panicked and tapped out without so much as an escape attempt.

The surprisingly quick finish came at the 1:59 mark of the opening round.

“I think a lot of people underestimated me coming into the fight,” said Miller, who immediately campaigned for a title shot. “I’m one of the best in the world. … I wanted to go out there and prove a point.”

Oliveira (14-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC), meanwhile, tastes defeat for the first time in his three-year pro career.

Danzig scores stunning KO win over Stevenson

In a lightweight bout between former winners of “The Ultimate Fighter,” season-six champion Mac Danzig used a perfectly timed counter left to floor and knock out season-two victor Joe Stevenson.

Stevenson got the better of the stand-up early in the fight, but a patient Danzig saw the opening he needed. And despite throwing the counter punch from his back foot, Danzig masterfully connected on a left hook to the button. Steven was knocked out cold at the 1:54 mark of the opening round and fell face first into the canvas.

“I had been landing that for years to years, and I just learned how to get power behind it,” Danzig said. “I knew he was going to come in and lead with the left hook … and the whole thing was hitting the jaw, not the forehead.”

The precision strike undoubtedly saved the career of Danzig (20-8-1 MMA, 4-4 UFC), who entered the bout with four losses in an especially frustrating five-fight span. Stevenson (31-12 MMA, 8-6 UFC), a former title challenger who suffered a decision loss to George Sotiropoulos back in February, now has lost two straight and four of his past six.

Alves sharp in decision win over Howard

In a main-card opener with welterweight bruisers, Thiago Alves and John Howard didn’t disappoint the many fans expecting an all-out brawl.

Howard went for an early takedown, but the first round was spent entirely upright. Alves sapped his opponent with crushing leg kicks, and when countered with similar strikes, he popped Howard with looping lefts and straight right jabs that continually found their mark. In the second, Howard ignored his corner’s instructions to stay out of the pocket, and despite some solid blows of his own, he ate far more strikes than he threw. The stinging low kicks allowed Alves to score a takedown midway through the second frame, and he closed out the round with effective hammerfists to the head and rib-rattling punches to the body.

Alves slowed the pace in the third and appeared content to counter-punch, and the strategy resulted in a flash-knockdown midway through the round. Howard, though, survived and got back to his feet, but continued low kicks and crisp striking put the exclamation point on Alves’ clear-cut decision victory.

Alves (18-7 MMA, 10-4 UFC) avoided a third consecutive loss following a 2009 title defeat to St-Pierre and a decision loss to top contender Jon Fitch back in August. Howard (14-6 MMA, 4-2 UFC) opened his UFC career with four consecutive wins but now has suffered his second straight defeat.

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